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SAD protest march from Mohali to Chandigarh today over land compensation
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal urged farmers' committee representatives and others to join the protests on September 29.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) plans to hold a protest march in Punjab on Wednesday from Mohali to the chief minister's residence in Chandigarh over demands for greater compensation for farmers whose lands have been acquired by the government to develop various road projects which will pass through 19 districts of the state. The Sukhbir Singh Badal-led political party also aims to meet the Punjab governor today to submit to him a memorandum in this regard, which details the farmers' demands for a hike in the compensation that they are being offered for their land.
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Party spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said, “We want to highlight the injustice being perpetrated on 2 lakh farmers across 19 districts of Punjab, as their agriculture land is being acquired for road projects under the Bharat Mala scheme at low rates.”
According to Punjab Pradesh Road Kisan Sangharsh Committee, a body fighting for fair compensation for farmers, about 25,000 acres of land are being acquired by the Punjab government for developmental projects. “More than 3,000 houses will be demolished and 100 village ponds will vanish,” the committee members said. “One-crore trees will be felled. On completion, the road project will lead to flooding in low-lying areas.”
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Sukhbir Singh Dhillion, committee chief, told SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal that the Congress government in the state was only offering ₹30 lakh and ₹70 lakh per acre for rural and urban land, respectively. Pointing out that it is not enough, Dhillon raised the demand for ₹1 crore per acre for rural and ₹3-5 crore per acre for urban land as compensation for the road project.
Badal decided to hold the protest march from Mohali to Chandigarh on September 29 after meeting Dhillon last week; the SAD leader also urged the committee representatives and other farmers to join the protests.
The road projects in contention include the Delhi-Jammu-Katra, Jamnagar-Amritsar, Ludhiana-Ropar, Amritsar-Una, and Mohali-Fatehgarh Sahib.
